BLUE TIT. IO7 



BLUE TIT. 



Parus cceruleus ; Mesange bleue ; Blaumeise. 

 Tomtit ; Bluebonnet ; Bluecap ; Nun ; Billy-biter. 



Bill, legs, and toes, bluish-grey ; crown of the head 

 and throat, blue ; cheeks, white, with blue border ; white 

 band over the eyes, beneath it a bluish-black streak ; 

 back, olive-green ; breast, yellow, with stripe of deep 

 blue down the middle ; wings and tail, bluish. Length, 

 four inches and a half. 



This bird is even more plentiful than the Great Tit, 

 with whom it is often found in company ; it is more 

 frequently seen on the ground and in the roadway, and 

 is, on the whole, more tame and sociable. Its actions 

 are even more lively, if that were possible ; and no 

 matter what the weather may be, it seems to be in 

 excellent health and spirits. Wordsworth has well 

 described its actions : 



" That giddy sprite, 

 Bluecap, who, with his colours bright, 

 Hung head pointing towards the ground, 

 Fluttered, perched, into a round, 

 Bound himself, and then unbound ; 

 Lithest, gaudiest harlequin ! 

 Prettiest tumbler ever seen ! " 



The notes of the Blue Tit are much less varied than 

 those of the Parus major. His staple remark is " see, 

 see, see, see," or "joe-atty, atty, atty," with occa- 

 sionally, "chicka, chicka, chee, chee." Mr. Witchell, 

 however, describes a call-note as " a metallic ' pim-im- 

 imimin.'" The nest is placed in the holes of trees or in 



